Features

As has been my habit for nearly all of the past 31 New Year’s Eves, I spent the turn of the year with a few thousand fun-loving fellow travelers dancing to my favorite music on the planet. It was Furthur at the Bill Graham Civic in SF, “Sugar Magnolia” at midnight, as balloons fell. It never gets old (though we do!).

As I reflected on the Civic shows and 2012 in general, I decided that I could not recall a year when the Core Four of surviving members of the Grateful Dead—Phil, Bob, Mickey and Bill—had been involved in so many cool musical pursuits over a 12-month period. We should all be tremendously encouraged that the GD spirit is so alive, still taking on new and different forms every day.

On the Phil front, the biggest news was the opening of his Terrapin Crossroads nightclub/restaurant/bar in the Canal District of San Rafael, just a hoot and a holler from the Dead’s old Front Street studio/rehearsal hall. If Phil wasn’t out on the road with Bob in Furthur in 2012—and that band played fantastic tours in spring, summer and fall—chances are he was playing at Terrapin Crossroads. During the opening celebrations, a virtual who’s who of past Phil Lesh & Friends musicians, plus his Furthur band mates and his very musical sons, Grahame and Brian, got together in innumerable configurations to rock the house.

Bob Weir, Chris Robinson, Jimmy Herring, Warren Haynes, Jackie Greene, Larry Campbell, Teresa Williams, John Kadlecik, Tim and Nicki Bluhm, Jeff Chimenti, Joe Russo and many others helped inaugurate the place, and that was just the beginning. Over the course of the year, the beloved PLQ (Phil, Herring, Haynes, John Molo and Rob Barraco) reunited to play a couple of dynamite series at Terrapin Crossroads, and other groups featured a slew of great players (a few new to the Dead family), including guitarists Neal Casal, John Graboff, John Scofield, Stanley Jordan and local favorite Mark Karan, and keyboardists Adam McDougall and John Medeski. Phil’s West Coast Rambles, modeled after the late, great Levon Helm’s Woodstock Rambles, were high-spirited affairs with a shifting membership, and there were dozens of free shows in the bar, often featuring Phil, his sons and the likes of Mark Karan, Jackie Greene and others. The Phil Lesh & Friends de facto Guitar Army (Haynes, Scofield and Greene) knocked ’em Dead in the winter of 2012 in Colorado, and the Phil & Friends fall jaunt in the New York area—with JK, Jackie, Russo, Stanley Jordan in NYC and either Chimenti or McDougall on keys— produced some of my favorite Dead family shows of the year. Check out the Capitol Theatre (Port Chester) run on Archive.org for some amazing music.

Bob Weir and Jackie Greene

Bob, too, was perennially busy outside his Furthur obligations. As was the case in 2011, his immaculate TRI Studios complex in northern San Rafael once again hosted a number of spectacular webcast shows, including the RatDog reunion at the end of January; a sparkling confab in late March with Bob fronting members of of the moody rock band The National and various other Brooklyn-based musicians from outside the Grateful Dead sphere; and “Move Me Brightly,” the Jerry Garcia 70th birthday tribute event in early August, featuring a gaggle of old and new friends, including Phil, Jim Lauderdale, Jon Graboff, Donna Godchaux MacKay, Jeff Chimenti, Phish’s Mike Gordon, Neal Casal, Harper Simon, Cass McCombs, Adam McDougal and Jonathan Wilson (who would turn up at a number of later gigs by Furthur and Weir). That last one was definitely among the best shows I attended all year.

Once a week for four weeks in November, Bob hosted a TRI show called Weir Here during which he answered questions submitted via social media and also played a few tunes solo. Quite a treat.

Bob played a number of acoustic concerts in a trio setting (and solo) with Chris Robinson and Jackie Greene, a handful of shows with Bruce Hornsby (playing separately and together), and a couple that matched Bob and Bruce with sax great Branford Marsalis (check out the “Bird Song” > “Other One” from 7/19/12!). A few successful solo tours in April, September and November-December found the Bobster opening up his songbook in creative ways, telling stories and looking surprisingly at home onstage alone. The fall tour paired Bob with Jackie Greene for a series of warm and intimate evenings—track down the 12/12/12 concert from the Paramount Theatre in Denver for a taste!

Bob, too, now has a small live venue to play in whenever the mood strikes. He’s a principal investor in the tiny and charming Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, which opened in the winter of ’12 with gigs by RatDog (following the TRI event) and has hosted all sorts of cool acts all year. Next week a little band called Furthur checks in for a few days—now, that was a tough ticket!

The Mickey Hart Band toured much of the year and also put out one of the finest albums to come from a former Grateful Dead member, Mysterium Tremendum, featuring a bunch of songs with lyrics by Robert Hunter (and several with lyrics by Mickey, who turns out to be a good writer himself). The MHB has a strong identity outside of the Grateful Dead connection—only bassist Dave Schools, of Widespread Panic fame, could be considered a serious Dead fan before the group formed—and that has made their Dead covers sound utterly unique. Gawain Mathews is far removed from Garcia’s influence but comes up with one creative guitar line after another, song after song. And singer Crystal Monee Hall brings a soul/gospel touch to everything she sings, Dead songs included. If you still haven’t seen the MHB live, you owe it to yourself to make the effort, because they’ve really tapped into something magical. Their tour picks up again in mid-February, rolling on until early March (with Ghana’s African Showboyz opening), and hopefully they’ll be playing many more dates as the year progresses.

2012 was a bit of a roller coaster for my main man, Bill Kreutzmann. His excellent band, 7 Walkers, was cruising along nicely the first half of the year until lead singer/guitarist Papa Mali fell ill and the group had to cancel a couple of months of shows in peak touring season. Bummer! Then, shortly after Papa’s return, Bill was sidelined by an acute case of elbow inflammation. Still, it’s good news that Bill has resurrected the BK3 (Bill, Scott Murawski and Oteil Burbridge), did a New Year’s Eve sit-in with Govt. Mule at the Beacon Theatre in NYC, and is taking the BK3 to Costa Rica for the Jungle Jam. Here’s hoping that everyone will be healthy in 2013 and we get lots more music from Bill and his pals!

What got me reminiscing about the past year, was thinking about how many astonishing versions of Grateful Dead songs I heard—both in person and on recordings on Archive.org and videos on YouTube—by the plethora of different Dead-connected groups. From straight-ahead guitar-and-voice readings, to complicated arrangements with walls of guitars and saxophones, to songs that jammed out to “space” and back, the Dead songbook was never explored in quite so many ways. (I often think of the first interview I did with Phil, back in April 1990, for The Golden Road, in which he said, “I’ve always thought that every one of our tunes has got the potential to open up and flower like ‘Dark Star.’” It didn’t happen with the Grateful Dead, but in the post-Garcia world, it’s actually happening! Listen to the Furthur New Year’s week versions of “The Wheel,” “Terrapin” or “Slipknot!,” among others.)

Which brings us to the triumphant return of The Dead Covers Project, currently revving up for its second go-around here on Dead.net. It was such a gas to comb through the literally hundreds of versions of Dead and Dead-associated tunes that were uploaded to the DNP last winter. Some of them were positively mind-blowing, some simple but sincere; all of them were heartfelt. Who would’ve guessed that some of the most creative videos would be for lesser known tunes such as “Rosemary” and “I Will Take You Home”?

What will this year’s crop bring? Plenty of everything, I hope! Here’s my personal challenge: Who’s going to be the one to find the great song we know lies beneath the nitrous oxide haze of “What’s Become of the Baby”? Maybe you’ve heard the hissy studio tape of Garcia singing it alone with acoustic guitar. Or perhaps you have some brilliant idea of how to show that song’s true colors. C’mon blow my mind!

As has been my habit for nearly all of the past 31 New Year’s Eves, I spent the turn of the year with a few thousand fun-loving fellow travelers dancing to my favorite music on the planet. It was Furthur at the Bill Graham Civic in SF, “Sugar Magnolia” at midnight, as balloons fell. It never gets old (though we do!).

As I reflected on the Civic shows and 2012 in general, I decided that I could not recall a year when the Core Four of surviving members of the Grateful Dead—Phil, Bob, Mickey and Bill—had been involved in so many cool musical pursuits over a 12-month period. We should all be tremendously encouraged that the GD spirit is so alive, still taking on new and different forms every day.

On the Phil front, the biggest news was the opening of his Terrapin Crossroads nightclub/restaurant/bar in the Canal District of San Rafael, just a hoot and a holler from the Dead’s old Front Street studio/rehearsal hall. If Phil wasn’t out on the road with Bob in Furthur in 2012—and that band played fantastic tours in spring, summer and fall—chances are he was playing at Terrapin Crossroads. During the opening celebrations, a virtual who’s who of past Phil Lesh & Friends musicians, plus his Furthur band mates and his very musical sons, Grahame and Brian, got together in innumerable configurations to rock the house.

Bob Weir, Chris Robinson, Jimmy Herring, Warren Haynes, Jackie Greene, Larry Campbell, Teresa Williams, John Kadlecik, Tim and Nicki Bluhm, Jeff Chimenti, Joe Russo and many others helped inaugurate the place, and that was just the beginning. Over the course of the year, the beloved PLQ (Phil, Herring, Haynes, John Molo and Rob Barraco) reunited to play a couple of dynamite series at Terrapin Crossroads, and other groups featured a slew of great players (a few new to the Dead family), including guitarists Neal Casal, John Graboff, John Scofield, Stanley Jordan and local favorite Mark Karan, and keyboardists Adam McDougall and John Medeski. Phil’s West Coast Rambles, modeled after the late, great Levon Helm’s Woodstock Rambles, were high-spirited affairs with a shifting membership, and there were dozens of free shows in the bar, often featuring Phil, his sons and the likes of Mark Karan, Jackie Greene and others. The Phil Lesh & Friends de facto Guitar Army (Haynes, Scofield and Greene) knocked ’em Dead in the winter of 2012 in Colorado, and the Phil & Friends fall jaunt in the New York area—with JK, Jackie, Russo, Stanley Jordan in NYC and either Chimenti or McDougall on keys— produced some of my favorite Dead family shows of the year. Check out the Capitol Theatre (Port Chester) run on Archive.org for some amazing music.

Bob Weir and Jackie Greene

Bob, too, was perennially busy outside his Furthur obligations. As was the case in 2011, his immaculate TRI Studios complex in northern San Rafael once again hosted a number of spectacular webcast shows, including the RatDog reunion at the end of January; a sparkling confab in late March with Bob fronting members of of the moody rock band The National and various other Brooklyn-based musicians from outside the Grateful Dead sphere; and “Move Me Brightly,” the Jerry Garcia 70th birthday tribute event in early August, featuring a gaggle of old and new friends, including Phil, Jim Lauderdale, Jon Graboff, Donna Godchaux MacKay, Jeff Chimenti, Phish’s Mike Gordon, Neal Casal, Harper Simon, Cass McCombs, Adam McDougal and Jonathan Wilson (who would turn up at a number of later gigs by Furthur and Weir). That last one was definitely among the best shows I attended all year.

Once a week for four weeks in November, Bob hosted a TRI show called Weir Here during which he answered questions submitted via social media and also played a few tunes solo. Quite a treat.

Bob played a number of acoustic concerts in a trio setting (and solo) with Chris Robinson and Jackie Greene, a handful of shows with Bruce Hornsby (playing separately and together), and a couple that matched Bob and Bruce with sax great Branford Marsalis (check out the “Bird Song” > “Other One” from 7/19/12!). A few successful solo tours in April, September and November-December found the Bobster opening up his songbook in creative ways, telling stories and looking surprisingly at home onstage alone. The fall tour paired Bob with Jackie Greene for a series of warm and intimate evenings—track down the 12/12/12 concert from the Paramount Theatre in Denver for a taste!

Bob, too, now has a small live venue to play in whenever the mood strikes. He’s a principal investor in the tiny and charming Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, which opened in the winter of ’12 with gigs by RatDog (following the TRI event) and has hosted all sorts of cool acts all year. Next week a little band called Furthur checks in for a few days—now, that was a tough ticket!

The Mickey Hart Band toured much of the year and also put out one of the finest albums to come from a former Grateful Dead member, Mysterium Tremendum, featuring a bunch of songs with lyrics by Robert Hunter (and several with lyrics by Mickey, who turns out to be a good writer himself). The MHB has a strong identity outside of the Grateful Dead connection—only bassist Dave Schools, of Widespread Panic fame, could be considered a serious Dead fan before the group formed—and that has made their Dead covers sound utterly unique. Gawain Mathews is far removed from Garcia’s influence but comes up with one creative guitar line after another, song after song. And singer Crystal Monee Hall brings a soul/gospel touch to everything she sings, Dead songs included. If you still haven’t seen the MHB live, you owe it to yourself to make the effort, because they’ve really tapped into something magical. Their tour picks up again in mid-February, rolling on until early March (with Ghana’s African Showboyz opening), and hopefully they’ll be playing many more dates as the year progresses.

2012 was a bit of a roller coaster for my main man, Bill Kreutzmann. His excellent band, 7 Walkers, was cruising along nicely the first half of the year until lead singer/guitarist Papa Mali fell ill and the group had to cancel a couple of months of shows in peak touring season. Bummer! Then, shortly after Papa’s return, Bill was sidelined by an acute case of elbow inflammation. Still, it’s good news that Bill has resurrected the BK3 (Bill, Scott Murawski and Oteil Burbridge), did a New Year’s Eve sit-in with Govt. Mule at the Beacon Theatre in NYC, and is taking the BK3 to Costa Rica for the Jungle Jam. Here’s hoping that everyone will be healthy in 2013 and we get lots more music from Bill and his pals!

What got me reminiscing about the past year, was thinking about how many astonishing versions of Grateful Dead songs I heard—both in person and on recordings on Archive.org and videos on YouTube—by the plethora of different Dead-connected groups. From straight-ahead guitar-and-voice readings, to complicated arrangements with walls of guitars and saxophones, to songs that jammed out to “space” and back, the Dead songbook was never explored in quite so many ways. (I often think of the first interview I did with Phil, back in April 1990, for The Golden Road, in which he said, “I’ve always thought that every one of our tunes has got the potential to open up and flower like ‘Dark Star.’” It didn’t happen with the Grateful Dead, but in the post-Garcia world, it’s actually happening! Listen to the Furthur New Year’s week versions of “The Wheel,” “Terrapin” or “Slipknot!,” among others.)

Which brings us to the triumphant return of The Dead Covers Project, currently revving up for its second go-around here on Dead.net. It was such a gas to comb through the literally hundreds of versions of Dead and Dead-associated tunes that were uploaded to the DNP last winter. Some of them were positively mind-blowing, some simple but sincere; all of them were heartfelt. Who would’ve guessed that some of the most creative videos would be for lesser known tunes such as “Rosemary” and “I Will Take You Home”?

What will this year’s crop bring? Plenty of everything, I hope! Here’s my personal challenge: Who’s going to be the one to find the great song we know lies beneath the nitrous oxide haze of “What’s Become of the Baby”? Maybe you’ve heard the hissy studio tape of Garcia singing it alone with acoustic guitar. Or perhaps you have some brilliant idea of how to show that song’s true colors. C’mon blow my mind!

Member for

As has been my habit for nearly all of the past 31 New Year’s Eves, I spent the turn of the year with a few thousand fun-loving fellow travelers dancing to my favorite music on the planet. It was Furthur at the Bill Graham Civic in SF, “Sugar Magnolia” at midnight, as balloons fell. It never gets old (though we do!).

As I reflected on the Civic shows and 2012 in general, I decided that I could not recall a year when the Core Four of surviving members of the Grateful Dead—Phil, Bob, Mickey and Bill—had been involved in so many cool musical pursuits over a 12-month period. We should all be tremendously encouraged that the GD spirit is so alive, still taking on new and different forms every day.

On the Phil front, the biggest news was the opening of his Terrapin Crossroads nightclub/restaurant/bar in the Canal District of San Rafael, just a hoot and a holler from the Dead’s old Front Street studio/rehearsal hall. If Phil wasn’t out on the road with Bob in Furthur in 2012—and that band played fantastic tours in spring, summer and fall—chances are he was playing at Terrapin Crossroads. During the opening celebrations, a virtual who’s who of past Phil Lesh & Friends musicians, plus his Furthur band mates and his very musical sons, Grahame and Brian, got together in innumerable configurations to rock the house.

Bob Weir, Chris Robinson, Jimmy Herring, Warren Haynes, Jackie Greene, Larry Campbell, Teresa Williams, John Kadlecik, Tim and Nicki Bluhm, Jeff Chimenti, Joe Russo and many others helped inaugurate the place, and that was just the beginning. Over the course of the year, the beloved PLQ (Phil, Herring, Haynes, John Molo and Rob Barraco) reunited to play a couple of dynamite series at Terrapin Crossroads, and other groups featured a slew of great players (a few new to the Dead family), including guitarists Neal Casal, John Graboff, John Scofield, Stanley Jordan and local favorite Mark Karan, and keyboardists Adam McDougall and John Medeski. Phil’s West Coast Rambles, modeled after the late, great Levon Helm’s Woodstock Rambles, were high-spirited affairs with a shifting membership, and there were dozens of free shows in the bar, often featuring Phil, his sons and the likes of Mark Karan, Jackie Greene and others. The Phil Lesh & Friends de facto Guitar Army (Haynes, Scofield and Greene) knocked ’em Dead in the winter of 2012 in Colorado, and the Phil & Friends fall jaunt in the New York area—with JK, Jackie, Russo, Stanley Jordan in NYC and either Chimenti or McDougall on keys— produced some of my favorite Dead family shows of the year. Check out the Capitol Theatre (Port Chester) run on Archive.org for some amazing music.

Bob Weir and Jackie Greene

Bob, too, was perennially busy outside his Furthur obligations. As was the case in 2011, his immaculate TRI Studios complex in northern San Rafael once again hosted a number of spectacular webcast shows, including the RatDog reunion at the end of January; a sparkling confab in late March with Bob fronting members of of the moody rock band The National and various other Brooklyn-based musicians from outside the Grateful Dead sphere; and “Move Me Brightly,” the Jerry Garcia 70th birthday tribute event in early August, featuring a gaggle of old and new friends, including Phil, Jim Lauderdale, Jon Graboff, Donna Godchaux MacKay, Jeff Chimenti, Phish’s Mike Gordon, Neal Casal, Harper Simon, Cass McCombs, Adam McDougal and Jonathan Wilson (who would turn up at a number of later gigs by Furthur and Weir). That last one was definitely among the best shows I attended all year.

Once a week for four weeks in November, Bob hosted a TRI show called Weir Here during which he answered questions submitted via social media and also played a few tunes solo. Quite a treat.

Bob played a number of acoustic concerts in a trio setting (and solo) with Chris Robinson and Jackie Greene, a handful of shows with Bruce Hornsby (playing separately and together), and a couple that matched Bob and Bruce with sax great Branford Marsalis (check out the “Bird Song” > “Other One” from 7/19/12!). A few successful solo tours in April, September and November-December found the Bobster opening up his songbook in creative ways, telling stories and looking surprisingly at home onstage alone. The fall tour paired Bob with Jackie Greene for a series of warm and intimate evenings—track down the 12/12/12 concert from the Paramount Theatre in Denver for a taste!

Bob, too, now has a small live venue to play in whenever the mood strikes. He’s a principal investor in the tiny and charming Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, which opened in the winter of ’12 with gigs by RatDog (following the TRI event) and has hosted all sorts of cool acts all year. Next week a little band called Furthur checks in for a few days—now, that was a tough ticket!

The Mickey Hart Band toured much of the year and also put out one of the finest albums to come from a former Grateful Dead member, Mysterium Tremendum, featuring a bunch of songs with lyrics by Robert Hunter (and several with lyrics by Mickey, who turns out to be a good writer himself). The MHB has a strong identity outside of the Grateful Dead connection—only bassist Dave Schools, of Widespread Panic fame, could be considered a serious Dead fan before the group formed—and that has made their Dead covers sound utterly unique. Gawain Mathews is far removed from Garcia’s influence but comes up with one creative guitar line after another, song after song. And singer Crystal Monee Hall brings a soul/gospel touch to everything she sings, Dead songs included. If you still haven’t seen the MHB live, you owe it to yourself to make the effort, because they’ve really tapped into something magical. Their tour picks up again in mid-February, rolling on until early March (with Ghana’s African Showboyz opening), and hopefully they’ll be playing many more dates as the year progresses.

2012 was a bit of a roller coaster for my main man, Bill Kreutzmann. His excellent band, 7 Walkers, was cruising along nicely the first half of the year until lead singer/guitarist Papa Mali fell ill and the group had to cancel a couple of months of shows in peak touring season. Bummer! Then, shortly after Papa’s return, Bill was sidelined by an acute case of elbow inflammation. Still, it’s good news that Bill has resurrected the BK3 (Bill, Scott Murawski and Oteil Burbridge), did a New Year’s Eve sit-in with Govt. Mule at the Beacon Theatre in NYC, and is taking the BK3 to Costa Rica for the Jungle Jam. Here’s hoping that everyone will be healthy in 2013 and we get lots more music from Bill and his pals!

What got me reminiscing about the past year, was thinking about how many astonishing versions of Grateful Dead songs I heard—both in person and on recordings on Archive.org and videos on YouTube—by the plethora of different Dead-connected groups. From straight-ahead guitar-and-voice readings, to complicated arrangements with walls of guitars and saxophones, to songs that jammed out to “space” and back, the Dead songbook was never explored in quite so many ways. (I often think of the first interview I did with Phil, back in April 1990, for The Golden Road, in which he said, “I’ve always thought that every one of our tunes has got the potential to open up and flower like ‘Dark Star.’” It didn’t happen with the Grateful Dead, but in the post-Garcia world, it’s actually happening! Listen to the Furthur New Year’s week versions of “The Wheel,” “Terrapin” or “Slipknot!,” among others.)

Which brings us to the triumphant return of The Dead Covers Project, currently revving up for its second go-around here on Dead.net. It was such a gas to comb through the literally hundreds of versions of Dead and Dead-associated tunes that were uploaded to the DNP last winter. Some of them were positively mind-blowing, some simple but sincere; all of them were heartfelt. Who would’ve guessed that some of the most creative videos would be for lesser known tunes such as “Rosemary” and “I Will Take You Home”?

What will this year’s crop bring? Plenty of everything, I hope! Here’s my personal challenge: Who’s going to be the one to find the great song we know lies beneath the nitrous oxide haze of “What’s Become of the Baby”? Maybe you’ve heard the hissy studio tape of Garcia singing it alone with acoustic guitar. Or perhaps you have some brilliant idea of how to show that song’s true colors. C’mon blow my mind!

Beyond that, just have fun!

Display on homepage featured list

Off

Custom Teaser

As has been my habit for nearly all of the past 31 New Year’s Eves, I spent the turn of the year with a few thousand fun-loving fellow travelers dancing to my favorite music on the planet. It was Furthur at the Bill Graham Civic in SF, “Sugar Magnolia” at midnight, as balloons fell. It never gets old (though we do!).

dead comment

Member for

I don't go to nearly as many shows as you do, but having caught them on December 30 I was really taken with how generally tight the band was and how appealing the music was. I also loved both Bob's and Mickey's (alone and together) sets at the Rex show in early December.

Member for

Here in Chicagoland, I haven't seen any of the boys in several years. I was really enjoying seeing Ratdog at the Vic and the Riviera, as well as Phil & Friends. Very fun and very intimate. Then when it became Further at Rosemont or some other basketball arena, I lost interest. But you all in the Bay area are really fortunate to get to see some great shows in some very laid back and intimate settings.
I realize that with the cost and hassle of taking a band on the road, that the boys can't afford to play the small shows around the country that they can do 10 minutes from home. I'm envious! Enjoy it! I can't imagine being at Terrapin Crossroads and Phil just decides to strap on the bass and play for a while with his boys or whomever.
I do wish that the Seven Walkers or MHB would venture somewhere between Colorado and New York and give us midwesterners a chance to enjoy them.

Member for

I haven't seen as many shows as I would like. I really wanted to see one of the Bob and Bruce shows but I was in school at the time and didn't have much money. I love seeing them when I can but, since I never saw them with Jerry, I can't help but think...I was only 13 in 95 and I don't think I'd even been to Deer Creek yet. However, I did own Skeletons in the closet at that point and it still sits sentimentally on my shelf.

Member for

...at the number of people I've encountered who got into the Dead through that "Skeletons..." album. As a Dead Head of a few years when it came out, I thought it was the strangest and lamest collection imaginable (OK, that's overstating it, but I thought it was not a good or sensible selection of songs), yet obviously it had something goin' on, because it sold really well (for a while it was their best-selling album!) and seems to have brought many folks into the fold, which is a good thing! A better "hits" collection. to my ears was the later "What a Long Strange Trip..." double album with the cool Rick Griffin cover. "The Arista Years "CD was a pretty good condensation of that era, and more recently I was surprisingly impressed by the Rhino/Starbucks 2-CD anthology "Eternally Grateful."

Member for

...thanks to the extended family of musicians who keep sharing these wonderful songs with folks who need to hear them - whether "they" know it or not!
My sister- and brother-in-law treated my wife and me to a Jackie Greene concert a couple weeks ago in Tahoe. They have been fans since his early days in Sacramento. When he ended his excellent show with a long and rousing "New Speedway Boogie" (with tasty "Other One" and "Bird Song" bits thrown in), they were blown away with the performance and wondered if I knew what song that was. I was only too happy to inform them that it was just another bit of magic from the good ol' Grateful Dead!
By the way, I was fortunate to score Furthur tickets at the Sweetwater in Mill Valley next week. Can't wait to see the boys in a venue that only holds just over 300 folks - yowza!
Note: Los Lobos is also playing there in February - I think tickets are still available.

Member for

I listened to that album a ton of times. When I finally got all the albums those songs came from a few years later, it was hard to not hear the next song in my head. I also had "what a long strange trip" on cassette tape. I don't know what happened to that tape. I probably played it so much that it melted...Hundred Year Hall was also one of the first GD albums I had. Once I finally understood the magic of that long "other one" jam (or cryptical as it mislabeled). I was really hooked! I still remember being awed that one section of a song from Anthem of the Sun could be stretched out like that. Man, that takes me back!

Member for

St. Stephen...good times, baby.
I wish I could get wood anywhere near that over Furthur. When I saw them in September 2012 in Seattle, i was underwhelmed. i actually texted my wife, "why do i keep coming back?" the thing is, when i saw them in sept 2010 in Seattle and Sept 2011 in Eugene, I LOVED it. 30 years of deadheadness sill do that to you, I suppose.
The GD are still the greatest band ever, no matter what.

Member for

I saw Jackie at the Sweetwater on Wednesday night (1/9) and he closed the show with a long, long "New Speedway " with those quotes from other songs you mentioned (plus the riff from Led Zep's "How Many More Times" and other stuff). Awesome! (He played a bluesy "Deal" in the first set....He does a great "So Many Roads" these days occasionally, too...He sings Dead as well as anyone, IMO!

Member for

Furthur on the lake last summer great time perfect weather, and MHB at the House of Blues was a small venue rumble jungle - got in front of the bass speakers stage left for 3 hours. Got a few from TRI for live jive. Missing RatDog and 7Walkers tho'! All things sound good from Terripin Connection and Sweetwater, have to figure a way to get a show there, I guess.- Road Trips-Just like a few thousand others of us out there. Winterland "77 came up on the box in the truck just when we entered Joshua Tree from the south today- He's Gone-reminded me of Gram Parsons for some reason.

Member for

I saw Furthur in Boston at the Wang Theatre in early April for the first night of the Spring Tour, but didn't catch them in the Summer. I am looking forward(hopeful) of another east coast Furthur tour this Spring. I will keep my eye on Furthur.net. Last year, the announcement came on Thursday, Jan 26th. So, this year, I'll be looking for an announcement on Thursday, Jan 24th or Jan 31st. Hopefully, I won't be disappointed.
Regarding Skeletons, it was the first Dead cassette that I owned. I got it for Christmas in 1984(maybe), along with Dark Side of the Moon, the Wall, Steve Miller's Greatest Hits(1974-78), and Born in the U.S.A. And to think that all I did was play Born in the U.S.A. for the next couple of months. Once I got around to listening to Skeletons, I thought, "Wow, the Dead's mellower than I thought, but very enjoyable" It would be a few more years before I would delve further into the Dead when I got Europe '72 and then Skull & Roses.

Member for

Being born in the early 80's, its really funny thinking about what I listened to before I found my parents Beatles records. Yes, its the same old cliche story but its true! Before Beatles, Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, etc...it was Bon Jovi, Pointer Sisters, Rhythm Syndicate...The Boss is starting to sound a lot better now, isn't it? ;)

Member for

Yes, Furthur at Sweetwater is a tough ticket indeed. Keeping track of when the tickets became available was not tough, but the ticket price was impossible for those of us in the 99%. I envy those Deadheads in the 1% for their ability to pay $162 for a ticket. Too bad; I was getting really excited at the prospect of being able to see the boys in a club setting. Now I don't think it will happen.

Member for

Man, I miss those days. For a few years a buddy and I worked in a frozen food warehouse. We had a cool boss who would give us time off whenever we wanted it. We would save up our money and see The Dead whenever and wherever possible. Ah, the song medleys, Bob forgetting the words to Truckin' while Jerry laughed every time, and the girls, and the girls, and the girls...... Man I miss those days....... Cal Expo, Freakin' at the Frost, peakin' at the Greek, Irvine Meadows, Laguna Seca, Oakland Coliseum, Henry J Kaiser..... I wish I could go back in time.....

Man, I miss those days. For a few years a buddy and I worked in a frozen food warehouse. We had a cool boss who would give us time off whenever we wanted it. We would save up our money and see The Dead whenever and wherever possible. Ah, the song medleys, Bob forgetting the words to Truckin' while Jerry laughed every time, and the girls, and the girls, and the girls...... Man I miss those days....... Cal Expo, Freakin' at the Frost, peakin' at the Greek, Irvine Meadows, Laguna Seca, Oakland Coliseum, Henry J Kaiser..... I wish I could go back in time.....

Pagination

Who Are You?Where Are You?How Are You?

Be the first to know about the Grateful Dead’s exclusive limited-edition releases, breaking news on the band, community events, and so much more. It’s all happenin’!

Unable to process your request at this time. Please try again later.

Please fill out the correct information.

By submitting my information, I agree to receive personalized updates and marketing messages about Grateful Dead based on my information, interests, activities, website visits and device data and in accordance with the Privacy Policy.
I understand that I can opt-out at any time by emailing privacypolicy@wmg.com.

- We thank you kindly for joining the Grateful Dead's mailing list!
Customize your notifications to ensure you don't miss out on local events, giveaways, and more.

Please fill out the correct information.

Postal Code

Country

First name

Birth Date

By submitting my information, I agree to receive personalized updates and marketing messages about Grateful Dead based on my information, interests, activities, website visits and device data and in accordance with the Privacy Policy. In addition, if I have checked the box above, I agree to receive such updates and messages about similar artists, products and offers. I understand that I can opt-out from messages at any time by emailing privacypolicy@wmg.com.

TurnkeyToaster-html

Be the first to know about the Grateful Dead’s exclusive limited-edition releases, breaking news on the band, community events, and so much more. It’s all happenin’!

Unable to process your request at this time.

Please try again later.

Please fill out the correct information.

By submitting my information, I agree to receive personalized updates and marketing messages about Grateful Dead based on my information, interests, activities, website visits and device data and in accordance with the Privacy Policy.
I understand that I can opt-out at any time by emailing privacypolicy@wmg.com.

Thank you!

- We thank you kindly for joining the Grateful Dead's mailing list!
Customize your notifications to ensure you don't miss out on local events, giveaways, and more.

Please fill out the correct information.

Postal Code

Country

First name

Birth Date

By submitting my information, I agree to receive personalized updates and marketing messages about Grateful Dead based on my information, interests, activities, website visits and device data and in accordance with the Privacy Policy. In addition, if I have checked the box above, I agree to receive such updates and messages about similar artists, products and offers. I understand that I can opt-out from messages at any time by emailing privacypolicy@wmg.com.